The sentencing of a 54-year-old-man to three months in jail for
contempt of the Bloddy Sunday Inquiry by refusing to attend and
give evidence has been called a “scandal” by the brother of a
victim of the British massacre.

When the sentence was handed down in the High Court in Belfast,
the Derry man -- known as ‘PIRA 9’ -- stood up and shouted at
the two judges: “I’m the only man to be punished for Bloody
Sunday. It’s a disgrace.”

The tribunal had received evidence from Paddy Ward that the man
had been involved in the events of Bloody Sunday on January 31
1972 when British paratroopers shot dead 13 men.

The evidence presented was that the man had been seen firing at
soldiers and that others gave him covering fire to enable him to
make his escape.

Defence lawyer John Coyle referred to a letter written to the
inquiry by a solicitor quoting ‘PIRA 9’ as saying that Mr Ward’s
evidence contained such a degree of in-accuracy that it did not
merit the dignity of a response.

“His view is that the evidence was nonsense - a farrago of
falsehoods,” Mr Coyle said.

The sentence has provoked outrage in Derry where John Kelly - a
brother of Bloody Sunday victim, Michael - said it was a
“scandal.”

Mr Kelly said: “The fact is that a Derry man is going to jail
over Bloody Sunday in spite of the way some British politicians
and former soldiers treated the tribunal.”

Mr Kelly pointed out that others had refused to answer
questions, while one former Parachute Regiment soldier, refused
to enter the witness box.

Mr Kelly said although the families had always appealed to
everyone with information to come forward, it was wrong to send
a man to prison for failing to do so.

Derry Sinn Féin assembly member Raymond McCartney said PIRA 9
had taken a conscious decision that the Inquiry would not serve
the best interests of the Bloody Sunday victims.

“The fact that the Derry republican sentenced in Belfast today
for refusing to appear before the Saville Inquiry is the only
person to be imprisoned as a result of the events in Derry in
1972 is an absolute disgrace,” Mr McCartney said.